Dr. Russell M. Smith, assistant professor of geography

Dr.
Smith is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Winston-Salem
State University with research interests in urban and political
geography. His specific research interests include local
government boundary change (e.g. annexation and incorporation)
and a variety of urban planning issues including urban
sustainability. Dr. Smith is the author
of several research publications, contracted reports, and
presentations. He has been published in Urban Geography,
Southeastern Geographer, State and Local Government Review, and
Geographical Review.
Currently, Dr. Smith is working on a $100,000 HUD Sustainable
Communities Regional Planning Grant in the Western Piedmont of
North Carolina.

Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Smith was an AICP
urban planner for numerous organizations within the Piedmont Triad
region of North Carolina. Dr. Smith’s 10 years of state and
local government planning experience compliment his research and
teaching agenda. His employment history includes working as a
city planner for Graham, NC, providing planning assistance to
the entire twelve county Piedmont Triad region, and serving as
the Assistant Director of Planning for the City of Burlington,
NC. He has had the opportunity to work on a variety of urban
planning related projects. Specifically, he has developed land
use plans, administered zoning and subdivision ordinances, and
he has worked with a variety of elected and appointed boards and
commissions. These experiences help him provide students with
“real world” examples and lessons related to human geography,
urban geography, planning, and economic development.

During his employment as an urban planner in North Carolina, he had a successful track record of obtaining external
funding through writing and receiving grants. Dr. Smith has been
responsible for securing more than $2 million in federal and
state funding for some of the jurisdictions where he was
employed. Dr. Smith has also recently finished working on
several contracted reports including the 2010 Burlington
Annexation Study, Davidson County Land Development Plan Update
and the Burlington-Greensboro I-40 Corridor Study.